The present invention relates to light emitting devices and in particular to light emitting diodes. Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are a class of photonic semiconductor devices that convert an applied voltage into light by encouraging electron-hole recombination events in an appropriate semiconductor material. In turn, some or all of the energy released in the recombination event produces a photon. When recombination events produce photons, they initiate photons in all directions.
Light emitting diodes share a number of the favorable characteristics of other semiconductor solid-state devices. These include generally robust physical characteristics, long lifetime, high reliability, and, depending upon the particular materials, low cost. These physical characteristics, along with relatively low power requirements, make LEDs desirable as light output devices. The general theory and operation of LEDs are well understood in the art. Appropriate references about the structure and operation of light emitting diodes include S.M. SZE, PHYSICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES (2d ed. 1981) and E. FRED SCHUBERT, LIGHT-EMITTING DIODES (2003).
From a practical standpoint, an LED's useful emission is best understood and measured by the amount of light that actually leaves the device and can be externally perceived, a factor that is referred to as the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the diode. Yet, as stated above, the LED generates photons and initiates them in all directions. Accordingly, maximizing the number of photons that actually exit the device in the direction of the desired transmission of light is a practical goal.
Light emitting diodes typically include multiple layers of different materials. As a result, light emitted from the active portion must typically pass through or across one or more of such layers before exiting the diode. Snell's law dictates that the photons will be refracted as they pass from one material to the next. The angles at which the photons will be refracted will depend upon the difference between the refractive indexes of the two materials and the angle of incidence at which the light strikes the interface.
In a diode, although some reflected light will still escape the diode at some other location, a certain percentage will be totally internally reflected, never escape the diode, and will thus functionally reduce the external efficiency of the diode. Although the individual reduction in the percentage of photons escaping may appear to be relatively small, the cumulative effect can be significant, and diodes that are otherwise very similar can have distinctly different performance efficiencies resulting from even these small percentage losses.
Snell's law dictates that when light crosses an interface into a medium with a higher refractive index, the light bends towards the normal. Similarly, when light travels across an interface from a medium with a higher refractive index to a medium with a lower refractive index, light bends away from the normal. At an angle defined as the critical angle, light traveling from a medium with a higher refractive index to a medium with a lower refractive index will be refracted at an angle of 90°; i.e., parallel to the boundary. At any angle greater than the critical angle, an incident ray undergoes total internal reflection. The critical angle is thus a function of the ratio of the refractive indexes. If the light hits the interface at any angle larger than this critical angle, the light will not pass through to the second medium at all. Instead, the interface reflects the light back into the first medium, a process known as total internal reflection. The loss of light due to this total internal reflection is known as the critical angle loss, and is another factor that reduces the external efficiency of the LED.
The light reflected at the interface of two materials is often called the Fresnel reflection or Fresnel loss. Any difference in the respective optical refractive indexes of the media would result in Fresnel Losses. Hence, Fresnel Loss is another factor contributing to the reduction in the percentage of the total light generated by the LED that the LED emits to air.
Accordingly, a need exists for devices with features that maximize the probability that a particular photon will exit the device in a desired direction or range of directions, thus increasing the light output efficiency of the device.